Frank Sinatra’s Daughter Recalled a Gross Visit to Times Square With Her Dad
Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, but one of his most famous songs was about the city across the river, New York. Though he never lived in the city full time, he owned property there and often visited. His daughter, Tina Sinatra, recalled a time when he took her to visit the city. Their visit to Times Square charmed her, but he quickly ruined her appreciation of its beauty.
Frank Sinatra had three children
In 1939, Sinatra married Nancy Barbato. The couple met on a trip to the Jersey Shore as teenagers. They shared three children, Nancy, Frank, and Tina. When they divorced in 1951, they worked to co-parent their kids. Tina spoke about the differences in their parenting styles.
“My mother was always the disciplinarian,” she told the National Post in 2000. “He was never good that way. He wouldn’t ground you, he’d reason with you, he’d make you think about what you did so you could feel really stupid about it. He was very gentle with his wisdom.”
Tina Sinatra recalled a time when Frank Sinatra took her to Times Square
Despite his level of celebrity, Tina said that Sinatra behaved like a normal dad in many ways.
“He took us on trips like any other parents, sometimes without Mom,” she told AZ Central. “And we had a little more fun when we were with him. He was home always for our birthdays or he’d see that we got to him. He loved holidays. His favorite was Christmas. And Thanksgiving. He made himself available even when we were grown. He tried to do familial things on the obvious dates.”
She shared that her trips with him stand out to her particularly well in her mind.
“Once we were all old enough to fly on our own, we would do that,” she explained. “We’d see more of him. We made many trips to Europe together, Dad and I. And New York. He showed me Hoboken for the first time.”
Sinatra showed her Times Square in New York, but he quickly shredded any of her romantic notions about the place.
“He walked me down Times Square for the first time when I was about 17 and I said how beautiful the sidewalks were with pebbles like in Olde England,” she said. “He said, ‘Honey, those are wads of gum.'”
Tina Sinatra shared her favorite memory with her father
Though she took a number of trips with her father, her favorite was the time he took the three siblings to Disneyland.
“He took us all to Disneyland — 500 people invited to a pre-opening,” she said. “A lot of our family friends and their children. And we took Sammy Davis Jr. with us. He was recovering from losing his eye in the car accident so Dad said he was his fourth kid that day. We have great pictures of that.”
This memory stands out to her, but she struggled to pick one specific moment as her favorite with her father.
“I have hundreds and I have to say several of them were near the end,” she said. “They weren’t necessarily happy but they were fulfilling. And I was aware that I was gifted with the time to have that with him.”
